Development of Human Gastric Process Computational Models for the Design of Foods with Optimised Nutrient Uptake and Satiety

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The evolution of food structure within the human digestive tract influences drastically the metabolism and health of individuals. Food breakdown is strongly linked to glycaemic index, whilst it also impacts appetite regulation. Mechanistic understanding of the relationship between food structural mechanics, the gastrointestinal (GI) tract motility and digestion is still lacking. Specifically, the breakdown of the food structure under the effect of the mechanical loads due to the gastric peristaltic waves, the associated hydration from gastric fluids and the chemical degradation through the enzymatic action need to be investigated. The project aims at developing a novel computational platform for food product design to control food disintegration and nutrient bio-accessibility and consequently the digestion efficiency; the output from this research will have a great impact on both the food industry and public health. It will be a continuation of current work in the Soft Solids group (e.g. Skamniotis et al., 2020, Eulerian-Lagrangian finite element modelling of food flow-fracture in the stomach to engineer digestion, Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 66, 1466-8564).